- It seems Calvin Klein put up a billboard in SoHo which some find a little too sexy. We sure hope this kerfuffle ("It's borderline pornographic!") and all the media coverage of it doesn't hurt the company's denim sales! [NYDN]
- "Nothing will be the same again, it would be illusory to think it will be the same again," now that we're in a recession, said Bernard Arnault, chairman and chief executive of LVMH. "In the most developed countries, customers will want exceptional brands. In developing countries, customers will increasingly adopt consumption models of developed countries." Funny, that actually sounds familiar! [WWD]
- Watch out for more from model/heiress Lydia Hearst: She was in one independent film, The Last International Playboy, which is a title that every time I read it makes me briefly confused about whether the movie is an adaptation of The Playboy of the Western World, but in any case, for Lydia, the fame train has not yet reached the end of its line. "This is hopefully just the beginning," Hearst said at the premiere. "I'm a model, but you can expect a lot more from me soon." [WWD]
- Phoebe Philo's resort collection for Celine, her first, was given a rave review by Cathy Horyn at the New York Times. "The central thing to know about her Celine clothes, which are terrific for a number of reasons, is that they reflect an every-day style. By that I mean they are clothes you want to wear every day, whether you work in an office or a gallery, part-time or at home. They answer the questions many women have about wanting to look good at work — appropriate — while still looking relaxed and casual. I'm not sure what Celine really means to American women, and I don't really care, but I thought it interesting that Ms. Philo focused on sportswear — not dresses, not ball gowns, not girlish, what-do-I-do-with-this-now separates. She makes one of the strongest sportswear statements we've seen in some time...It looked right for now, a reprieve from the Balmainia of ultra minidresses and chunky little boots." [On The Runway]
- We shudder to think what this collab might look like: Ronnie Wood and Liberty of London. Leather, black eyeliner, and...floral prints? Oh, wait, the apparel and accessories lines will be based around the Stone's "choice quotations" and art. That sounds so much better. [WWD]
- A more successful pairing might be Loomstate and Keds, which reaches Barneys Coop stores and Barneys.com today. Loomstate redesigned five laceless classic Keds with its prints on 100% organic cotton uppers and linings, the insoles are recycled, the eyelets are nickel-free, and the shoe boxes are recycled. Each pair runs $75. [WWD]
- Is this Tom Ford sounding penitent? "That whole obsession with youth, with new, new, new — it's giving us clothes no one can wear. As for the business model that I followed at Gucci — the new this, the It that, the let's get it on a celebrity and shoot her in front of a logo, it was getting old then. Now it's really old." [Times of London]
- Michael Kors and Heidi Klum, already a familiar duo from evening television, are behind this year's Breast Cancer Research Foundation/Saks Fifth Avenue Key to the Cure fundraiser. Kors has designed a t-shirt that will retail at $40 at Saks, and Klum will model the top for print advertisements. Saks will donate $500,000 to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and 2% of the shirt sales, up to $250,000, to other local and national breast cancer charities. [WWD]
- O.M.G., everybody: since 1997, Old Navy has sold t-shirts with an American flag on them and the current year at the bargain price of $5, in honor of making money around the 4th of July holiday. But this year, Wal-Mart's private label Faded Glory has a flag t-shirt with the year on it, and it only costs $3! How are we ever going to choose a retailer to affirm our patriotism now? [NYTimes]
- Clever boy that Jason Wu. For his pre-fall collection, the designer created six different pieces for five top stores: Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Jeffrey. Letting everyone get slightly different versions of the same thing keeps the consumer shopping and might go some way to thwarting the race-to-the-bottom effect of discounting. He's doing the same thing for Spring. [WWD]
- Realizing perhaps that in offering 15-year-old Tallulah Belle (Bruce and Demi's daughter) an internship they had in fact violated employment laws, Harper's Bazaar would like to clarify that the youngster is not, in fact, an "intern," but a "guest" of the magazine. Who comes to work every day to shadow the editors. Right. [Daily Express]
- The first pan-African fashion week kicked off in Johannesburg, featuring 50 designers from as far away as Sierra Leone and Nigeria. [Reuters]
- A recent vogue for bobcat fur may be hurting bobcat populations in the Western states. Nevada, New Meico, and Wyoming all have long trapping seasons for the cats, and no limits on how many may be killed. Their popularity with designers has caused prices to surge to around $500 a pelt. [AP]
- Selma Weiser, the 84-year-old founder of legendary Manhattan boutique Charivari, died of heart failure on Friday in her home on the Upper West Side. In the 60s, 70s and 80s, Weiser was among the very first to bring designers such as Claude Montana, Yohji Yamamoto, Issey Miyake, Giorgio Armani, and Thierry Mugler to an American audience. She also gave Marc Jacobs a job as a shop assistant when he was 15. [WWD]
- Someone named Scott Amron — apparently an electrical engineer/designer/inventor, and someone unaware of LVMH's aggressive policing of its intellectual property — had the bright idea to sell "Luis Vuitton" [sic] band-aids made of perforated leather. We sense the descent of lawyers in 3, 2, 1... [AmronExptl]
- Natalie Massenet, founder of Net-A-Porter, and Christopher Bailey, creative director of Burberry, were named MBEs at Buckingham Palace this weekend. [WWD]
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